1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to horizontally supported planar surfaces that may be vertically removable as a structural interlock for separable support and fastener components, and more particularly, to furniture such as knockdown desks and tables assembled from panels without the use of tools and without fasteners.
2. Description of the Related Art
Panel desks have become standard in the current office. Desks with vertical side and front panels in metal or wood visually define the vertical boundaries of the personal work-space as well as provide modesty protection. The vertical panels that create these visual boundaries generate both onsite assembly and functional problems.
Onsite assembly of panel desks vary between knockdown and ready-to-assemble approaches. At one extreme, knockdown desks made of panel materials are too heavy to be handled as a unit by a single assembler, and are too topologically complex to allow all panels to be interconnected with hinges. At the other extreme, ready-to-assemble panel desks are held together by fasteners that often fail structurally and usually require tools representing a test for the mechanically challenged. These are indicators for a fastener that is scaled to the structure, and a structure without fasteners, which is a contradiction in the prior art.
Functional problems with panel desks have emerged with the need for computer wiring and accessory management. Holes drilled in desk panels for wiring leave transformers, routers, power strips, and uninterrupted power supplies either on the desktop or lying beneath the desk.
Yet larger openings violate the nature of a panel desk. These are indicators for desk accessibility through the desk panels, which is a contradiction in the prior art. Further, a greater contradiction in the prior art is such accessibility through the desk panels of a knockdown panel desk.
Knockdown furniture may include furniture that may be field assembled from separate components without the use of tools and without onsite installed mechanical fasteners. Examples of mechanical fasteners may include threaded nuts, bolts, screws, hooks, and latches. In general, knockdown furniture may be constructed of panels and simple frames of wood and plastic that may be coated and reinforced by metals and composites.
Some ready-to-assemble panel furniture relies on slots or grooves to join independent wood MDF panels. The inherent drawback of slots and grooves it that they reduce the cross-section of the panel at exactly the point where more load-bearing capacity is required. In some ready-to-assemble furniture, the rigidity depends on positional restraints such as detents or notches to hold and restrain panels after assembly or fold-out. Such positional restrains enable easy assembly, but are structurally inadequate to bear the infrequent but substantial lateral loads imposed on furniture in the home or office by impact contact with users or when slid during furniture rearrangement. Such lateral loads create bending and flexing in the structure.
It will be understood by one skilled in the art that horizontal forces applied in the plane of the top surface from any direction describe a worst case scenario for ready-to-assemble and knockdown furniture. Knockdown furniture in the prior art is generally adequate for vertical loads on the top surface.
However, horizontal thrust loads in the plane of the top surface applied when the base is partly restrained prove these minimal positional restraints in the prior art to be inadequate in their nature compared to the scale of the furniture itself. For example, panel furniture with interlocking slots may only develop structural resistance for half its dimension since the other half is cut away. In a further example, a protrusion stop for a hinged leaf may be fitted into a panel notch that is less than 10% of the panel width.
The increase of computer accessories has greatly reduced usable desk space since most desks neither manage nor hide computer accessories or their wiring. Thus, another shortcoming with current ready-to-assemble and knockdown desks is their inability to provide internal storage for computer equipment and manage wiring.